Students analyze and interpret the accompanying large-format images of Mars taken by NASA’s Mars Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera. The analysis involves identifying geologic features, calibrating the size of those features, and...(View More) determining surface history. The lesson culminates in students conducting in-depth research on questions generated during their analyses. The lesson is part of the Mars Education Program series; it models scientific inquiry using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes and vocabulary. Next Generation Science Standards are listed.(View Less)

This is an activity about image comparison. Learners will analyze and compare two sets of images of the Sun taken by instruments on the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. With Set 1, they will observe the Sun in both a highly active and a...(View More) minimally active state, and be able to detect active regions and loops on the Sun by comparing the two images. With Set 2, they will identify areas of high magnetic activity on a magnetogram image and recognize that these areas correspond to highly active regions on the Sun.(View Less)

This activity uses an episode of poor air quality over the Midwest and Eastern seaboard to engage students in an exploration of the collection, comparison, analysis and utilization of air quality data. With the aid of a camera, the EPA website and...(View More) Google Earth, students will determine local visibility. Students will also interpret images taken with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard both the Terra and Aqua satellites to distinguish between three aerosols-smoke, dust and haze. Then students will then find online satellite images of the local area to determine aerosol types and possible sources. Four lesson extensions are included. This lesson uses the 5E instructional model.(View Less)

These directions allow students to open different images that have been collected from the ROSAT satellite. The directions instruct the user to open the website, but first the user will need to install Hera software. (See related and supplementary...(View More) resources for a link to download Hera software at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/teachers/hera/install/install_hera.html).(View Less)

This is an activity about the period of the Sun’s rotation. Learners will select images of the Sun from the SOHO spacecraft image archive. Next, they will calculate an image scale for the selected solar images. Then, they will use it to help...(View More) determine the actual speed of sunspots based on measurements of their motion in the selected Sun images and, finally, determine the period of the Sun's rotation. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 3 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

This is an activity about the period of the Sun's rotation. Learners will use image of the Sun from the SOHO spacecraft and a transparent latitude/ longitude grid called a Stonyhurst Disk to track the motion of sunspots in terms of degrees of...(View More) longitude. Using this angular motion measurement, learners will then calculate the sunspot’s angular velocity in order to determine the rotation period of the Sun. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 4 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum.(View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore connections between parts of the Earth system, by examining a time series of environmental data maps. Each team examines a single variable displayed on a global data map, and identify the unit of measure, the...(View More) range of values, and patterns they observe in the data. Variables include: insolation, surface temperature, precipitation, cloud fraction, aerosols, biopshere. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, "Exploring Connections in Year 2007," and includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.(View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore the connections between parts of the Earth system by examining a time series of environmental data maps. Each student teams examines images for two variables and determines if there is a direct or inversely...(View More) proportional relationship exhibited between them throughout the year. The variable pairs that student groups are observing include: insolation and surface temperature; cloud fraction and precipitation; aerosols and biosphere. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, "Exploring Connections in Year 2007," and includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.(View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore the connections between parts of the Earth system by examining a time series of environmental data maps. They observe that the environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on...(View More) varying time and spatial scales, by looking at different six different variables during a single month: insolation, surface temperature, cloud fraction, aerosols, precipitation and biosphere (surface vegetation). This is one of six interrelated learning activities in the student activity guide associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007. A series of assessment and extension activities are included. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.(View Less)

In this activity, student teams explore connections between parts of the Earth system, by examining a time series of environmental data maps. By examining scientific visualizations of a data pair in two time slices, they will see that the...(View More) environment is the result of the interplay among many processes that take place on varying time and spatial scales. This is one of six interrelated learning activities associated with the GLOBE Earth System Poster, Exploring Connections in Year 2007, which also includes a series of assessment and extension activities. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.(View Less)